Pinterest Inspired Challenge #1

There's a new challenge starting up, called the Pinterest Inspired Challenge, and as the title says, the challenges will all be inspired by images from Pinterest.  I spend alot of time there, so I thought this would be a fun one!

I was immediately drawn to the colors, and here's what I made:

supplies: Hero Arts pool layering paper as card base, white, black, and grey cardstock, Altenew Vintage Flowers, various aqua, yellow and green inks, Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut die, Winnie & Walter "birthday" sentiment from The Big, the Bold, and the Happy, Simon's Medium Dots stencil, and some of the same inks used to stamp the flowers, Simon's Moonshine sequins

There are some really gorgeous entries in the gallery - be sure to go check it out!

Wishing You Joy

This is the 25th challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group and the theme is "White on White with a Touch of Color"  Sounded like fun to me, so here's my entry.

supplies: Simon's white woodgrain cardstock, pale blue cardstock, Artful Flowers, blue and white vellum, pale blue and white pearls, Simon's Wishing die, and Sending & Wishing stamp set (sentiment), VersaMark ink and white embossing powder

I chose some of my favorite Simon flowers and stamped and white embossed them on blue and white vellum, then arranged them on my hoarded woodgrain cardstock and added a sentiment and some pearls to finish.  This could be sort of a "something blue" item for a bride to be.......

Ditsy blue

Here's another version of the card I made last week for the Simon Wednesday challenge, this time done in blue.  I used an older Simon clear set that had several small floral elements, and just randomly stamped them, then cut the panel apart on a diagonal and mounted it on a blue base stamped with the sentiment:

supplies: blue and white cardstock, Simon's Life is a Journey stamp set, Avery Elle's Oh Happy Day sentiment, My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 scallop die, Martha Stewart punch, white crochet thread, Hero Arts button

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!  It's been a busy one here, with the Pro-Football Hall of Fame festivities here in town, and a family reunion out of town!  And our beloved Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps took 3rd place in the Drum Corps International Finals in Indianapolis last night!

Sunshine & Daisies

Today I decided to do a CASE of a card I made several years ago, using some of the same elements, and some newer ones.  Here's the old card:

And here's today's version :

supplies: yellow gingham dp from an old October Afternoon pad, Simon's Fresh Daisies and Sunshine dies, stamped sentiment from Simon's My Sunshine clear stamp set, Die-Namics Blueprints 20 scalloped die, Paper Sweeties yellow flower sequins

Thanks for stopping by - hope it's sunny where you are!

Simon Says.........Tie it Up!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday, too, and that means a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

Our theme this week is "Tie it Up!"  Use ribbon or twine or anything else you can think of along that vein.  The design team are using Paper Smooches products this week.

supplies: Paper Smooches Lovely Thoughts, 2 shades each of peach, pink, yellow, and green inks, lemongrass satin ribbon, green enamel dot

Aren't these roses lovely?  They look like stained glass with their thick black outlines!  This is a multi-stamping set, so coloring them is so easy!   

For my next card I was influenced by this sweet card by Lucy.  I used some small elements from another Paper Smooches set, and stamped a background, then broke it up, adding some stitching and a die-cut sentiment.

supplies: Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds, Simon's Cotton Candy and Melon inks, along with Hero Arts Butter Bar and Bubble Gum inks, Paper Smooches Birthday Word die, pink cardstock, Paper Smooches Dots die, Doodlebug Bumblebee twine, an enamel heart, Hero Arts Zinnia Bloom, colored with markers

I used the dot die on either side of the panel where I wanted my sentiment to be, then threaded my twine and sewed using the dots as my guide.  The daisy was not originally planned for this card, but it was sitting on my desk, and I liked it paired with the little flowers.

Now it's your turn!  Our sweet generous Heidi has yet again provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too! 

A very special challenge from the Simon Wednesday challenge blog!

 Hi all and welcome to another of our annual Simon Says Stamp Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge where we host a special challenge dedicated to our young designers.

ANYTHING GOES 

It is time for all you crafters to let your children loose in your crafty corners for a few hours. Just close your eyes and set them free to explore their creativity :-) You are allowed to hide your Copic Markers and extra special papers and you are allowed to help just a little bit if necessary, but we really want the children to 'DO IT' themselves as much as possible :-)

This challenge is open to all children aged between 2 and 16 inclusive.

We have not 1, not 2 but  3 surprise parcels of crafty goodies, hand picked by Simon!

For this challenge we have a very special Junior Design Team who I am sure you will agree have done an excellent job.

Please give them a warm welcome and leave comments for them on their blog posts. Thank You 

You have until August 31st 6pm Ohio time. 11pm UK time, 12 pm CET to join in

You can enter as many times as you like :-)

GOOD LUCK

Please add the age of the child to the linky.

Colour Me.....Creative

The Colour Me......Challenge Blog has a choice of 2 colorways this week.  I'm going with option 2:

supplies: Altenew Painted Flowers, Simon Says Stamp Big Scripty Greetings, sequins, Spellbinder's circle die

I decided to try something different this time.  I cut a circle in the card front, and then stamped my sentiment on a 2nd panel, which I popped below the card front with the sentiment peeking through.  Then I stamped and fussy-cut the flowers and arranged them around the sentiment, along with some matching sequins.  

Thanks for stopping by!

A birthday card

Somewhere during my surfing I came across this lovely card by Kate that really appealed to me and I pinned it for future inspiration.  Yesterday I came across it again and thought I'd do my own version of it.  I think it would make a great masculine birthday card - guys always seem to like blues and greens, but I think these colors are pleasing to everyone.

supplies: white and Hero Art's Grass layering paper, leaf from a BoBunny Halloween clear set (Apple Cider), Hero Arts Birthday Greetings, Simon's Lots of Dots, Hero Arts Tide Pool, Splash, Green Hills, and Grass inks

I stamped a white panel with the leaves , then overstamped them with 2 sizes of dots and colored inks.  Then I cut that panel in half, stamped my sentiment on my card base, and glued the panel pieces on either side of the sentiment.

I was amazed that I didn't have many open leaves stamps!  Lots of solid ones, but very few like these.  Simon's new One with Nature set would be a fun one to use here.  It's on my wishlist!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!  We are off to my DH's 50th HS class reunion!!

Hello Sunshine

Here's another card for Winnie & Walter's ReRun challenge this month.  Four of the sample cards there used "shine" from the stamp set being featured this month, and since I don't have that particular set, I tried to come up with another kind of shine:

supplies: W&W The Big, the Bold and the Happy stamp set, Memory Box Texture Shine stencil, squeezed lemonade, mustard seed, and fossilized amber distress inks, Sunshine, black, and white cardstock, and orange metallic sequins

I liked the way Heather Hoffman put together a stamped panel with 2 solid ones, so I used her idea, and instead of ink splatters, I used sequins.

Simon Says..... Anything Goes

 

Welcome to our last challenge of the month at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

It's Anything Goes this week, and the Design Team are using Penny Black products this week.  I made you 2 very different cards.

supplies: Penny Black Collage of Wishes, colored in Spectrum Aqua markers and water on Bristol paper

Penny Black does a nice variety of these collage-type stamps, and this is one of their newer ones.  It has a selection of 4 different sentiments that can be stamped into the banner.  I simply watercolored it and stamped and cut out an extra large rose and a butterfly, and popped them above the main design after my card was assembled.

My next card uses some Penny Black stamps, a die, and some papers:

supplies: Penny Black Indian Wheel background, stamped in Simon's Hydrangea ink, Purple Mountain papers, sentiment from Friendship clear stamp set, and Iris die, green cardstock for it's leaves, purple sequins

I stamped my background for this one, and trimmed out a panel, then inset the iris into it.  The sentiment comes from a set with fun fonts and sayings.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store for one lucky random winner of our challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too!

For Becca

I was playing some more with the distress inks smooshing technique and put down some peacock feathers and seedless preserves on a Bristol card panel.  Then something clicked and I remembered that Becca is celebrating her birthday this month.  In fact, it's already come and gone, but her birthday bash linkup is still open.  I was much impressed by one of the images she posted to show us some of her favorite things:

It was that teal and purple wood panel in the bottom right.  So after my inks had dried, I put the panel into an old Tim Holtz wood grain embossing folder, and then sponged on a little more vintage photo ink to cover up the white that was still showing on the panel.  This wouldn't be a card from me if it didn't have a flower on it somewhere, so I used the last of these Hero Arts Jeweled Pastel Flowers (thank goodness it was purple!), and some Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers, along with some more pearls in Becca's colors.  This is so far out of my comfort zone, I decided to stop there.  Here it is:

Becca, Happy belated Birthday!  From the pictures you posted, it looks like it was a great one!   

Smooshed

Well, I'm still at it - playing with my Painted Flowers, I mean.  This time I decided to try the ink smooshing technique for a background, and then add the uncolored flowers and a sentiment.  I am thrilled with my first try!

supplies: Black and white cardstock, Bristol paper, worn lipstick, mustard seed, and peeled paint distress ink, water spritzer, Altenew Painted Flowers, Wplus9 Hand Lettered Hello die, Avery Elle Simply Said Hello, VersaFine Onyx Black ink

I smooshed the distress inks on my kraft mat, spritzed them with water, and then used a piece of acetate to pick up the inks, one at a time, and smoosh them onto my Bristol panel.  When I was satisfied with the color blending, I heat dried the panel, then overstamped my flowers and added my sentiments.  This resulting color blend reminds me so much of the color of a Peace Rose, and I'm so pleased with how easy it was to do!  I'll definitely be playing more with this technique!

Color Throwdown #352

Once again the ladies at the Color Throwdown challenge have given us some fun colors to play with! Here's my entry:

supplies: Simon Smoke and Slate cardstocks, Medium Dots Stencil, Hero Arts Tide Pool, Green Hills, Soft Granite, and Charcoal inks, Technique Tuesday Two-Steppin' (flowers), Simon's Sending die, Hero Arts XO clear set (hugs), silver sequins

And here's our inspiration board:

Throwback Thursday

I have a card for this month's Throwback Thursday at WPlus9.  I really liked the colors that Maureen used for her samples, so I tried to approximate them.

supplies: Wplus9 Backgrounds & Borders 1, Blanket Stitched Blooms (sentiment), Avery Elle Brushed, Simon's Mint, Wplus9's Silver Lining, and Hero Arts Pale Tomato inks, assorted washi tape, PPP sparkling clear sequins

I stamped the ikat dots in a diagonal, changing colors with each row, and then stamped another smaller panel, added some washi tapes and paint splats and a few sequins and framed it up in black.

Once again, Maureen has pushed me out of my comfort zone, but this design is growing on me!